Duns Scotus

Duns Scotus (1266-8 November 1308) was a Scottish philosopher of the Middle Ages who was notable for his views on the univocity of being, the formal distinction, and haeccity.

Biography
Duns Scotus was born in Duns, County of Berwick, Scotland in 1266, and he was ordained as a priest in 1291. He studied at the University of Oxford before 1300, and he began lecturing on Peter Lombard's Sentences at the University of Paris in late 1302. His commentary on the book contained all of the philosophical views and arguments for which he was well-known. He believed that, between concepts and things, there are associations, in haeccitas ("thisness"), formalitas (formality), and hylomorphism. Scotus believed that distinction was caused by "thisness" ("this is this and that is that") as opposed to Thomas Aquinas' focus on quantities. Scotus was rebuked by Aquinas and his followers, and supporters of Scotus were pejoratively nicknamed "Dunces", a term that still refers to uneducated people. Scotus died in Cologne, Holy Roman Empire in 1308.